Amazon leaks reveal AI is on the verge of putting developers off programming, cloud boss warns of radical change

Amazon's cloud chief Matt Garman revealed in a leaked recording that AI could soon eliminate the need for programming, allowing developers to focus more on innovation and customer needs.

Amazon's Garman: AI could replace traditional programming

With the impending dominance of AI in many programming jobs, software developers may soon need to develop new skills.

According to a recording of the meeting obtained by Business Insider, Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services, said this during an internal fireside chat in June.

“If you look 24 months into the future or any period of time – I can't predict exactly when that will be – it's possible that most developers won't be programming,” said Garman, who took over as CEO of AWS in June.

Move from programming to building user-centric solutions

“Programming is kind of like the language we speak with computers. It's not necessarily a skill in itself,” the manager explained. “The skill in itself is how do I innovate? How do I build something that is interesting to my end users?”

Garman predicted that this would lead to a change in the role of the software developer.

“It just means that each of us needs to be more attuned to what our customers need and what the actual end product is that we're trying to build, because that's going to be a bigger and bigger part of the job than sitting down and actually writing code,” he said.

These days, everyone seems to be talking about how AI will change or even eliminate jobs. Many companies are laying off employees or not hiring at all to put more money into AI research and development. New artificial intelligence systems that can write code automatically can help companies do more with the same or fewer number of engineers, which can save a lot of money. AWS laid off hundreds of employees earlier this year.

Amazon encourages developers to improve their AI skills

Rather than threatening that programmers will become extinct because of AI, Garman offered only suggestions. His optimistic demeanor hinted at more imaginative opportunities for programmers. He explained that AWS supports workers with AI by allowing them to “continue to improve their skills and learn new technologies” so they can be more productive.

“Being a developer in 2025 may be different than being a developer in 2020,” Garman said.

AWS vision: Less code, more innovation

Aisha Johnson, a representative from AWS, told BI that Garman's comments implied that developers could “accomplish more than they can today” using new artificial intelligence capabilities. She said he never once mentioned the possibility of programmers playing a smaller role.

“Matt articulated a vision for how AWS will continue to remove undifferentiated heavy lifting from the developer experience so developers can focus more of their skills and energy on the most innovative work,” Johnson said in a statement.

Technology leaders agree: AI will revolutionize development

Garman is not the only prominent executive who predicts a change in developer roles due to AI.

According to Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, “everyone is a programmer today” thanks to the introduction of new AI coding assistants.

According to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, more accessible AI technology will create a billion new developers.

Even more prophetic was the statement by former CEO of Stability AI, Emad Mostaque: “In five years, no programmers.”

During his presentation, Garman encouraged his audience to think about creative ways to integrate AI into their daily tasks.

AWS integrates AI to increase internal efficiency

As an example, he mentioned that Smartsheet, a software developer, just integrated the AI ​​capabilities of Amazon's Q chatbot into a Slack channel to answer employee inquiries about company protocols and policies.

“We often think about the customers, which is great, but I would also encourage everyone internally to think about how they can completely change their behavior,” Garman said.